Tour Guides and Escorts
Escort individuals or groups on sightseeing tours or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, and art galleries.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Coordination
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- History and Archeology
- Communications and Media
- Education and Training
- Geography
- Fine Arts
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- Conduct educational activities for school children.
- Escort individuals or groups on cruises, sightseeing tours, or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, or art galleries.
- Describe tour points of interest to group members, and respond to questions.
- Monitor visitors' activities to ensure compliance with establishment or tour regulations and safety practices.
- Provide directions and other pertinent information to visitors.
- Select travel routes and sites to be visited based on knowledge of specific areas.
- Research various topics, including site history, environmental conditions, and clients' skills and abilities to plan appropriate expeditions, instruction, and commentary.
- Greet and register visitors, and issue any required identification badges or safety devices.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Enterprising, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree (31% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (39%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (27.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Tour Guides and Escorts is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 39-7010 (aggregate); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Higher on contact with others than 55% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 86% of occupations compared | 76% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 55% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 57% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 81% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 84% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 78% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 94% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 9.72%
- Contact with others about half the time: 4.79%
- Contact with others most of the time: 16.15%
- Constant contact with others: 69.34%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 12.91%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.47%
- Very important: 10.65%
- Extremely important: 75.97%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 6.96%
- Important: 6.35%
- Very important: 45.54%
- Extremely important: 41.15%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 13.92%
- Limited freedom: 21.2%
- Some freedom: 9.6%
- A lot of freedom: 55.28%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 10.63%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.71%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 24.83%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 31.6%
- Every day: 21.22%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 25.89%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 30.27%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 34.19%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.72%
- Every day: 1.93%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 11.75%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 50.03%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.61%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.61%
- Every day: 0%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 71.77%
- Fairly serious: 0%
- Serious: 6%
- Very serious: 11.39%
- Extremely serious: 10.83%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 39-7011.00 · SOC 39-7010 (aggregate, low confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8